Cats avoid making same mistakes but Tipp have the right balance

TJ Reid’s exclusion is not a surprise. After last year’s final Brian Cody was pilloried for breaking his rules on picking injured and out-of-form players

T
here is a wide angle photograph from last year’s All-Ireland final which
probably tells us everything we need to know about that game and a lot of
what we need to understand about today. It was taken a couple of seconds
after Noel McGrath plundered Tipperary’s third goal from a simple long ball
that landed in the square. The umpire is just about to wave the green flag
and frozen in the picture is an image of Kilkenny’s bewilderment.

JJ Delaney is on his knees, Tommy Walsh is walking back to his position with
his head down, Noel Hickey is motionless, PJ Ryan still hasn’t got to his
feet. There are seven Kilkenny players inside the large parallelogram and
only two from Tipperary. Yet Tipp have scored a goal.

Now, imagine for a second Kilkenny’s response? Imagine what has gone through
their minds for the last 12 months? Imagine how